Henri Cartier Bresson was a French photographer whose main reclaim came from his photojournalistic work. His work was a good representation of "real life" photography and his candid portraiture is what I will primarily be looking at. He also produced many portrait photographs designed to look like candid shots that were actually posed. Some of his subjects included Richard Nixon, Gandhi and Coco Chanel.
This candid photograph is I think well done as it is clearly focused on the pair of women, despite the busy background. This style of photograph typifies Bresson's work, espcially his candid photography. I like this shot as it gets across a message about the society at the time. For a candid shot the subjects are well positioned and also well lite, with the light catching the sides of their faces visible to the camera.
This candid photograph is I think well done as it is clearly focused on the pair of women, despite the busy background. This style of photograph typifies Bresson's work, espcially his candid photography. I like this shot as it gets across a message about the society at the time. For a candid shot the subjects are well positioned and also well lite, with the light catching the sides of their faces visible to the camera.
This photography of Richard Nixon, taken by Bresson, is a fine example of his candid style 'posed' photography. The way the subject is positioned, with the natural light from the window falling directly on his face, is too perfect for a candid shot. The lighting does however mean that shadows are cast over the rest of his body, emphasing his facial features. Bresson's depth of field perfectly captures the office scene. With enough focus to clearly show the face but also enough to show that he is at work and what is on his desk.
This photograph is nice in the way that it displays the scene of military uniformity, but because of the little girl looking at the camera it makes political inferences, espcially towards the communistical regime of which the subjects are part of. As mentioned before the fact that the girl is looking towards the camera makes the scene look less surreal, as it break the uniformity of all the other subjects. The depth of field perfectly captures the girl and the man next to her looking at the camera. The graduated lack of focus on those in black the further away they are fits the photo perfectly, as it makes them seem to fade away.
